JUSTICE IN MANHATTAN

by Adams Round Table ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1994

Another round of stories on a single theme (Missing in Manhattan, 1992, etc.) by the monthly lunch group first convened by Thomas Chastain and Mary Higgins Clark. The theme this time isn't especially specific or demanding, but it does prescribe some kind of reversal in the ending, and that's exactly where most of the contributors fall down. The stories by Justin Scott and Joyce Harrington are underplotted, as if cut off too soon; Clark and Lucy Freeman telegraph their punches so clearly that their entries seem to drag on forever; Mickey Friedman and Judith Kelman work toward hollow reversals; Chastain and Stanley Cohen dispense with climaxes almost entirely; and Dorothy Salisbury Davis's account of the abortive love affair between a priest and a married parishioner never quite fulfills its moody premise. Only Warren Murphy's malicious anecdote about a put-upon husband who kills his wife in the name of true love displays the professional competence you'd expect from this crowd. The rest of the stories hang in the air like the bright remarks of after-dinner speakers who find themselves smiling without anything to say.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1994

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Longmeadow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994

Categories: FICTION